2017 AOA and NRMP Match Results Show Record Growth Among Osteopathic Graduates

By Stephen C. Shannon, DO, MPH
AACOM President and CEO

The results of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Match™ were announced Friday, March 17. The match rate for the 2017 osteopathic medical student class to first-year graduate medical education (GME) positions was 81.7 percent—an all-time high. The number of successful osteopathic participants—2,933—represents 537 more DOs who were matched this year than last year. This increase over a single year, in fact, is well beyond the combined increase in successful participation totals over the four years prior.

The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Program also recently released the preliminary results of its 2017 AOA Intern/Resident Registration Program, demonstrating that a total of 2,470 graduating osteopathic medical students successfully matched to osteopathic medical residencies. A scramble for additional GME slots in the AOA Program is taking place on an ongoing basis, with the final osteopathic medical school graduate GME placement results expected to be available by the end of April. In recent years, 99.6 percent of DO graduates seeking GME have placed into residency positions mostly through the AOA Match, the NRMP Match, or the Military Match.

The rising number of osteopathic medical school graduates who match is now at an all-time high, underscoring the continued growth in success in both the NRMP and AOA matches. That’s good news for the future of health care. This trend will result in more physicians entering the health care workforce, helping to address the current physician workforce shortage, especially in rural and urban underserved areas. However, if we are to truly address physician shortages that will be growing over the coming years, Congress must lift the federal cap on residency positions and invest in GME which is critical to ensure the stability and continuity of both the nation’s medical residency training programs that produce future physicians for the health care system that provides care to our nation’s residents.

The 2017 NRMP Match was the largest in NRMP history—with more than 35,000 active participating applicants, both allopathic and osteopathic, competing for more than 28,000 residency positions.

View the NRMP 2017 Advance Data Report for additional details about this year’s NRMP results. The AOA Intern/Resident Registration Program places students in osteopathic GME positions in the United States to complete their postdoctoral training. The AOA's annual match results provides the outcomes for each of the applicants, schools, GME and residency programs, and institutions that participate in the AOA Match.